


Memories of Garlic Pasta

by TheKeyboardNinja



Category: NCIS
Genre: Ellie’s Food Associations, F/M, and Incident Report Dave is here too briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22250707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKeyboardNinja/pseuds/TheKeyboardNinja
Summary: A short story about how her ability to remember everything and her food associations has come back to haunt her. Ellie POV, post-17x11 generally.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	Memories of Garlic Pasta

**Author's Note:**

> Do I know where this came from? I do not but I felt like we needed more Ellie POV. Post 17x11, I guess. It fits the best there ... I wrote this on my phone for all of you to enjoy.

Special Agent Ellie Bishop has a special memory, especially when there is food involved. Such as remembering the minute details of her threat analysis report that brought her to NCIS—it was a Wednesday and there was a box of Cocoa Pebbles with a prize. Or even, remembering the case file of that bogus FBI agent and the bowl of cream of mushroom soup. Damn food associations. 

Which is how she ended up here frozen in the line for the hot bar at the Navy Yard cafeteria. Garlic pasta was one of the options today— it had been cycled off the menu over a year ago and here it was back again mocking her. 

The smell of the pasta took her back two years ago to the undercover mission at the Norfolk Marina. The moment when garlic pasta became associated with a memory... an emotion even. She had rationalized her actions of kissing her partner in the tackle shop, but that didn’t stop the flutter in her chest with the smell wafting from the metal pan. 

Emotions of the last year of whatever had shifted in their friendship started to overwhelm her. Clayton’s death, baby Cody, reactions to Boyd, him being framed, Ziva’s secret and the hypnotic note and then the double date from hell and so many other ands. Ellie cleared her throat and flexed her sore wrist from punching Victor to stop the butterflies from raising any further. Now with Ziva back in Paris, the previous tensions with them and even the team had started settling into a familiar pattern. 

Being superbly rational in the face of emotions is how she can best help people, even if that person was herself. And boy, did she need that right now. 

Ellie had a lot of practice suppressing her feelings, part of her introverted personality and part protective mechanism. Her late... fiancé even told her she hid behind her brain and she was doing it again. 

“Agent Bishop?” A person to her right asked. “Are you ok, you’ve been standing there a few minutes staring at the garlic pasta... and there’s a line”

“Sorry Dave,” Ellie cleared her throat. Taking a scoop of pasta and putting it in the container. “I couldn’t decide.”

As she walked away, Dave called out, “Agent Bishop I still need your incident report for the airport!”

Ellie smiled down at her lunch, not really acknowledging the words Dave had called out, already flashing back to that day. Communicating about feelings was complicated, especially for two closed off people such as themselves. This food association memory was a new one for her, not just tied to facts and figures, but also to an emotion. This was his fault anyway, having the pasta instead of the pulled pork before they left the Navy Yard. 

As she sits down to eat her lunch, Ellie flashes back to moments of that day once more. Mainly, the look in his eyes after their kiss. She knew she should have warned him before they went in, but he did say you have to do what feel right in the moment when you’re undercover. It’s how you stay alive, he said. They had to sell it, she told herself repeatedly for months afterwords whenever garlic pasta showed up on the menu again. 

Apparently this is going to be a problem once again as her heart hurt at what she doesn’t have. 

Ellie looked around the cafeteria and saw Nick walk in, he doesn’t have this problem she fumes to herself. He can eat the garlic pasta in peace without it mocking him like it does her. Damn emotions. Damn food associations. 

She didn’t mean to fall for her coworker… again. 

“Agent Torres, you’re holding up the line” a Marine barks at Nick, who also got lost in thought at the hot bar. 

“Making friends,” Ellie quips to her coworker as he sits down at the other end of the table. 

“The best of friends.”

“Don’t replace me.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Ah, the garlic pasta as well. Excellent choice” to which Ellie just smiles as she continues eating. “Tastes just how I remember.”

Their cell phones chirped on the table. Back in action again. 

As Ellie disposed of the remains of her lunch, she sighs about the differences in their memories from that simple pasta dish. Unlike her usually food-related memories, she didn’t even have the garlic pasta that day but it was burned in her memories all the same. Continuing to shake her hands to get any residual nerves out of her system she walked with Nick to meet up with Gibbs and McGee. 

Damn emotions. Damn food associations. Damn it all. She wanted to tell him, but now was not the time. One day, maybe. Maybe then she could let him know about her association with garlic pasta.


End file.
